Multiple hopper door actuating mechanism



MULTIPLE HOPPER DOOR ACTUATING MECHANISM 4 Shee'cs-Sheetl l July 15,1969 Filed Jan. 12, 1967 ff R 1 #f l h"\ Y' Q5 f l?, S-fo'-o LL "M" D A(l /NVE/VTO? s] WALTER L. FLOEHR VJ N LQMNL -h H/s ATTORNEY 4Sheets-Sheet 2 W. L. FLOEHR MULTIPLE HOPPER DOOR AGTUATING MECHANISMFiled Jan. 12, 1967 July 15, 1969 July 15, 1969 w. L.. FLoEHR l,3,455,253

MULTIPLE HOPPER' DOOR ACTUATING MECHANISM I Filed Jan. 12. 1967 4sheets-Sheet s /NVE/vroR WALTER L. FLOEHR afd-MM H/S A T TORNE Y July15, 1969 Wfl.. FLOEHR MULTIPLE HOPPER DOOR ACTUATING MECHANISM FiledJan. l2. 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent O 3,455,253 MULTIPLEHOPPER DOOR ACTUATING MECHANISM Walter L. Floehr, Toledo, Ohio, assgnorto Midland-Ross Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of OhioFiled Jan. 12, 1967, Ser. No. 608,763 Int. Cl. B61d 7/18, 7/26 U.S. Cl.S-251 15 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The prior art The recentlyintroduced unit trains of hopper cars for transporting coal or otherbulk lading in large quantities from mines or other sources direct tolarge consumers, depend for economy of operation upon a quickturn-around at each end of the run. This in turn requires that the carsbe both loadable and unloadable quickly. Quick loading is feasible withmechanical loaders now available but quick unloading requires thedischarge doors of the cars not only to be openable quickly but to opendischarge openings ithat are much larger than those of a conventionalhopper car. Several solutions to these problems of quick unloading havebeen proposed, some using longitudinally and others laterally hingeddoors. Among earlier designs the shallow hopper in which each openingwas closed by a pair of oppositely opening laterally hinged doors, hadthe greatest openable area but this design was abandoned several decadesago because of inadequate strength. With that knowledge the currentproposals in general provide a single door for each opening andconsequently are limited by the height of the hinges above the track inthe dimension of the opening normal to the hinges. An improvement on theold shallow hopper design, shown in Floehr Patent No. 3,242,878, issuedMar. 29, 1966, supplies the strength previously missing in an openingclosed by a pair of oppositely opening doors by spanning the opening bya center brace against which the adjoining ends of the doors close andaords the maximum open area practically obtainable with laterally hingeddoors. Even so, the limit imposed by track clearance on the length ofeach door makes it necessary to divide the bottom of a hopper car ofconventional length into around a dozen openings, with consequentlimitation by the intervening spacings upon the maximum openable area.

Summary of the invention The hopper door assembly of the presentinvention eliminates hinge height as a limitation upon a dimension of ahopper discharge opening by closing the opening by a pair of oppositelyopening, longitudinally hinged and laterally opening doors and, byhinging the inner door on the center sill and the outer on a side silland obtaining the necessary center strength by interlockable reinforcingmembers mounted on the free ends of the doors, permits the bottom of thecar to be opened almost entirely from the center sill to each side sill.And the sole reason for the almost is the practical one of needing aslight inward slope on the outer door for directing discharging ladinginto the space between the ends of the Patented July 15, 1969 ties. Theonly limit on ithe length of the opening, lengthwise of the car, is thatimposed by the weight of the doors and it is quite practicable to coverthe Ibottom of a car of normal length, lengthwise between end sheets, bytwo openings at each side of the center sill with a narrow dividerbetween them. Not only does the improved assembly enable almost theentire bottom of the car .to be opened but it includes operatingmechanism by -which the doors of at least laterally aligned openingsand, if desired, all of the doors can be opened and closed bothsimultaneously and quickly. Moreover, the operating mechanism is of suchconstruction and arrangement as to be assisted by the weight of anylading in holding the doors locked in closed position and in turn toassist the interlockable members in strengthening the bottom of the carbetween the sills when the doors are closed.

Objects of the present invention are to provide a hopper door assemblywhich is quick opening and opens almost ithe entire bottom of the carbetween sills for reducing unloading time to a minimum, while closingeach opening by longitudinally hinged oppositely opening doors hasoperating mechanism for simultaneously opening and closing the doors ofat least laterally aligned openings, and so seals and strengthens thejoint between the doors of each opening, when closed, as to rendercross-bracing of the opening unnecessary.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter inthe detailed description, be particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims and be illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure description FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of arailway hopper car fitted with a preferred embodiment of ithe improvedhopper door assembly of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along lines 2-2 of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along lines 3-3 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view on the section of FIGURE 3showing the details of the joint between a pair of doors;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along lines 5-5of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view on an enlarged scale,taken along lines 6-6 of FIGURE 1 and showing an actuator for the doorassembly in its door open and closed positions, the latter in dottedline;

FIGURE 7 is a bottom plan view of the structure of FIGURE 6; and

FIGURE 8 is an end elevational view of the structure of FIGURE 6.

Detailed description Referring now in detail to the drawings in whichlike reference characters designate like parts, the improved hopper doorassembly of the present invention is designed to permit a hopper car,indicated at 1, to have its bottom divided or partitioned into aplurality of discharge openings or outlets 2, each uninterrupted andextending laterally or widthwise from the cars center sill 3 to anadjoining side sill 4. Lengthwise or longitudinally of the car, eachopening may be as long as desired but usually there will be at least twoopenings on each side of the center sill, each laterally aligned with anopening on the opposite side. As the door assemblies of laterallyaligned v pairs of discharge openings will duplicate each other, a

tending from the center sill 3 to the adjoining side sill 4, is closedby a pair of oppositely opening doors which are hinged longitudinally ofthe car for swinging, hinging or pivoting laterally or sideways thereof.In each pair are an inner door `5 hinged to or pivotally mounted on oneside of the center sill 3 and an outer door 6 hinged to or pivotallymounted on the adjoining side sill 4. The preferred mounting for theinner doors 5 is below the bottom flanges 7 of the center sill onlaterally extending arms 8 of a generally T-shaped frame or member 9which projects upwardly into and is welded or otherwise suitably fixedto the center sill. In their tum, the outer doors 6 conveniently aremounted on brackets 10 fixed to and depending from the side sills. Inboth cases the mouting is such that the door 5 or 6 is hinged or has itshinging axis beneath or below and within the lateral confines of therelated sill so as substantially to clear the adjoining opening whenopened. As a result, the common level of the longitudinally extendinghinges 11 of the inner doors 5 is considerably below that of thesimilarly extending hinges 12 of the outer doors 6 and, as bets thisdifference in level, as well as to enable the doors to be swungdownwardly to substantially vertical open position Without obstructionby the underlying track (not shown) and to strengthen the joint 13 alongwhich the free or distal ends 14 and 15 of the inner and outer doors,respectively, of each pair meet when closed, the inner doors are shorteror of less length between their hinges and free ends than the outerdoors.

Together laterally spanning their opening, the inner and outer doors ofeach pair must each span the opening longitudinally and be of sufficientwidth to overlap the laterally extending frame members 16 reinforcingthe end sheets or partitions 17 at and bounding or delining the ends orlongitudinal extremities of the opening. As the span can be far greaterthan the like dimension of the usual discharge opening, the doors shouldbe suitably reinforced at least Widthwise. This in part is accomplishedby fixing to the outside of each door intermediate its ends a bulb angle18 extending horizontally and laterally of the door for substantiallyits full width. The outer doors 6 are further reinforced toward theirfree ends 15 by fixing to their outsides laterally extending webbed orgusseted angles 19. Instead of being straight for their full lengths,the inner and outer doors have squared free end portions 20 and 21,respectively, which are upturned at an oblique angle to their main partsand horizontally disposed in the closed position of the doors, at whichtime the free ends 14 and 15 of the doors of each pair meet or abutalong the vertically directed joint 13.

Engaging at their sides in their closed positions the correspondinglyangled bottom portions of the frame members 16 at the ends of theiropening 2, the inner and outer door end portions 20 and 21 arereinforced or braced on the outside for substantially their full widthsand lengths by horizontally disposed web or gusset-reinforced angles 22and 23, respectively. On each pair of doors one of these end portionangles, here 23, is downwardly obtuse and set back from the end of itsdoor, here 5, while the other, here 23, is downwardly acute and extendsbeyond the end of its door, here 6. The bottotm flanges 24 and 2S of theangles 22 and 23 respectively, have the same slope or inclination andabut when the doors are closed and each obtuse angle 22 forms with theprojecting wall 26 of its door an outwardly opening pocket 27 which,when the doors are closed, receives and mates or interlocks with theprojection or protuberance 28 formed by the acute angle 23 on theassociated outer door 6. Carrying or mounting these interlockable anglesor members on their free end portions, the doors of each pair thus notonly are reinforced along their end portions but definitely are xed intheir relative closed positions, while the offset and obliqueness of thejoint 29 between the bottom anges 24 and 25 of the angles relative tothe vertical joint 13 and consequent brokenness of the combined or fulljoint between the doors, effectively seals against the escape of evennely divided lading.

The operating mechanism 30 of the improved assembly by which the doors 5and 6 of the laterally aligned openings 2 are opened and closed inunison or simultaneously, includes an operating shaft 31 extendinglongitudinally of and centered laterally on the center sill 3 androtatably mounted therebelow, conveniently in bearings 32 carried in thebottom portions of the longitudinally spaced downstanding or verticalwalls 33 of the preferred doublewalled supporting frame 9. Above thebearings 32, the walls are interrupted, longitudinally of the centersill, by vertically elongated central slots 34 in which are received andguided preferably roller-carrying opposite ends of a center pivot ortoggle pin 35 of a toggle 36. Connected at their adjoining ends by thetoggle pin 35, the arms 37 of the toggle 36 are pivotally connected attheir far ends to brackets 38 fixed on the outside to the walls 26 ofthe inner doors 5 and preferably backed by the bulb angles 18 thereon.The slots 34 are of suicient extent to accommodate the toggle pin 35over movement of the toggle 36 from an extended condition or position inwhich the arms `37 are fully extended and substantially horizontal andthe doors 5 in their down-sloping closed position, to a collapsedcondition or position in which the arms are retracted and the doors in avertical open position. Movement between extended and collapsedconditions is applied or imparted to the toggle 36 on rotation of theoperating shaft 31 by a crank arm 39 xed at one end to the shaft andpivotally connected at the other to the toggle pin 35 by counterpartlinks 40' extending between the walls 33 and embracing or straddlingboth the crank arm and the connected ends of the toggle arms 37. Asindicated, the crank arm 39 preferably downstands vertically from theshaft 31 in the toggles extended condition and the links 40 clear theshaft at that time by being curved or arcuate.

For operating or opening and closing the outer doors 6 simultaneously orin unison with the inner doors 5, the operating shaft 31 has xed to itbeyond opposite sides of the frame 9 at opposite ends of the doors apair of axially spaced double or double-armed or ended cranks 41. Eachof these double cranks is connected at its opposite ends to the outerdoors 6, the connection preferably being made in each case by a compoundor composite link 42 having an inner arcuate or curved part 43 foldinginto the crank in the doors closed position and, as an outer part, a rod44 fixed at its inner end to the inner part. Instead of directly, eachrod preferably is adjustably connected to the related or associatedouter door 6 to permit any adjustment found needed on assembly in theclosed position of the inner and outer doors of each pair. In theillustrated embodiment the desired adjustability is obtained bythreading the outer ends of the rods and extending each through a collaror boss 45 pivoted to a bifurcated bracket 46 mounted on an extension ofthe angle 19 beyond the adjoining side of the door. Each collar has apair of centrally apertured spaced webs 47 through which the threadedouter end portion 48 of the associated rod extends.

Adjustment of the closed position of the door 6, at which time thecompound link 42 is in tension, is made by an adjusting nut 49 threadedonto the rod 44 beyond the collar 45 and acting against the outer of thewebs 47 therein. Conversely, a second adjusting nut 50 for enabling therod to press against and tix the open position of the door, is threadedonto the rod between the webs. With this arrangement, not only are theclosed positions of the doors of each pair independently adjustable butit is also possible to adjust each side of each door independently ofthe other to compensate for any warpage. Also, when the doors areclosed, the operating mechanism 30, which itself is braced by the centersill 3, braces the doors, the inner doors at the center by the togglearms 37 in compression and the outer doors at the sides by the compoundlinks 42 in tension. This bracing and the interlock between and acrossstiifening of the doors, provide adequate strength and obviate the needfor interrupting the discharge openings 2 by xed cross braces.

Rotation or turning of the operating shaft 31 in one direction will openand the other close the illustrated laterally aligned pairs of doors inunison and, if the shaft is extended and drivably connected to theoperating mechanism of any other like pairs of doors on the car, it canserve as the common operator for all of the doors. The operating shaftmust of course be rotated by suitable actuating means but whether thatmeans is automatically or manually actuatable and the number of doorsmade responsive to it, will depend upon the unloading facility availableat the destination of particular runs unless the actuating means isiubuilt into the car or the train. As not requiring a special unloadingfacility and therefore more versatile, an inbuilt actuator has beenselected for illustration as exemplary of suitable actuators.

Designated as 51, the illustrated actuator is both inbuilt into theparticular car and manually actuatable and in the illustrated doorassembly is part of the door operating mechanism 30. For the convenienceand Safety of an operator, the actuator 51 should be actuatable from atleast one and preferably both sides of a car. As this is accomplishableonly if the actuator extends either between the sides or at least fromone side to the centrally located operating shaft 31 and thereotherwise. would -be interference with the doors 5 and 6, thenecessarily laterally extending actuator itself should be located beyondan end of a laterally aligned pair of openings 2 in a clear space eitherbetween pairs of openings or in an end portion of the car.

So located longitudinally and extending laterally of the car, theactuator 51 includes a rotary actuating shaft 52 extending across thecar `below the center sill 3 and suitably headed at opposite ends forturning or rotation by an appropriate turning tool or actuating bar (notshown). Bevel gearing 53 transmits the rotary movement of the laterallydirected actuating shaft 52 to a longitudinally directed pinion shaft 54and a pinion 55 on the latter shaft and a downwardly facing rack 56drivably engaged thereby convert the rotary movement of the pinion shaftinto translational or reciprocal movement of a slide plate or member 57extending and slidable laterally of the car normal to and below thecenter sill 3. In turn the translational movement of the slide bar 57 isconverted into rotary movement of the operating shaft 31 through a link58 connected at one end to the slide bar and a crank 59 fixed againstrelative rotation to the operating shaft and pivotally connected at itsfree end to the other end of the link.

All of the above moving parts of the actuator, except for the crank 59and one end of the actuating shaft 52, are conveniently mounted on andsupported by an outrigger framework or frame 60 suspended at its innerend, as by riveting, from the bottom flanges 7 of the i center sill 3and projecting laterally therefrom toward a side of the car. Theillustrated frame work `60 has laterally spaced side rails 61 suitablyformed by angle irons and connects and braces the side rails adjacenttheir outer ends by surmounting cross braces l62, again suitably formedby angle irons. The pinion shaft 54 is suspended from the outer ends ofthe side rails 61 by bearings 63 fixed to the undersides thereof andjournaling its ends and the adjoining end of the actuating shaft 52 isjournaled in a bearing 64 fixed to an extension of the inner of thecross braces y62. The slide plate 57 slides directly beneath the bottomflanges 7 in confronting slots 55 formed by laterally spaced guidemembers 66 positioned between the side rails 61 and having laterallyoutstanding tabs 67 projecting between the side rails and the bottomanges 7 and xed with the rails to those flanges. In addition to theirslots 65, the guide members 66 have formed on their underfaces guiderails -68 which, except adjacent their inner extremities, are ilat andcoplanar.

The slide plate 57 has or carries on its underside the rack 56 over itsouter portion and a longitudinally slotted connector or lost motionmember 69 over its inner portion, both of which are centered laterallyon the plate inside or laterally inwardly of the guide members 66.Suitably formed of side plates 70 connected and spaced by spacers 71,the slotted connector member 69 receives in its sideopening,longitudinally elongated slot 72 a. pivot or connecting pin or shaft 73on which the actuator-connected end of the link 58 is pivoted, thepreferred link being a double link having its duplicate parts spaced byor straddling the slotted member 69 and in turn straddled or embraced bythe guide members `66. Guide rollers 74 rotatably mounted on the pin 73outside the link 58, are aligned with and roll on the downwardly facingguide rails 68 and the several components mounted on the pin are held inassembled relation thereon by heading one end of the pin and threadingthe' other to receive a nut 75. The lost motion connection in theactuator 51 between the slotted member l69 and the link 58, is to enableany doors controlled by the actuator to swing open freely once theiropening has been initiated, and the slot 65 is of a length toaccommodate the travel of the connected end of the link 5S required forsuch free opening.

In turning the operating shaft 31 through the crank 59, the actuatinglink 58 swings or shifts between a door open position in which it isvertically disposed and the crank 59 is in a lower quadrant far to oneside of a central Vertical plane through the axis of the shaft 31 and anopen position in which it is oblique and the crank has been swungupwardly (clockwise as viewed in FIGURE 5) into an upper quadrant on theopposite side of that plane. In these door closed and open positions,the links slideconnected upper end is adjacent respectively the innerand outer ends of the frame work 60 and it moves substantiallyhorizontally between these positions, guided by the guide rollers 74riding on the guide rails 68. For xing and holding or locking the link58 in its vertical closed position, the guide rails 68 are terminated orended inwardly by downstanding stops or shoulders 76 which, byengagement therewith, stop or limit the inward movement of the guiderollers 74 and in that position the rollers are engaged on theiropposite or outer sides by detents 77 on and downstanding from the guiderails in advance of or outwardly beyond the stops 76. As in approachingand leaving the stops 76 the guide rollers 74 must roll over the detents77 and the consequent downward deflection of the rollers must beaccommodated by a corresponding downward deflection of the inner end ofthe slide 57, the detents and the stops together effectively lock orhold the rollers and thereby the slide-connected ends of the links 58 inthe latters vertical position. An assist to the detents in holding thelink in closed position is given by the outer ends or end walls 78 ofthe slots 65 which at that time engage the outer side of the pin 73between the guide rollers 74 after pushing the shaft and therethroughthe slide-connected end of the link 58 to closed position in a closingoperation. With the link 58 vertical and its upper end thus locked inclosed position, the link cannot then be moved by any force applied toit through the crank 59 and the doors 5 and 6 are effectively lockedagainst opening.

The inward sliding or shifting of the slide 57 by rwhich the operatingshaft 31 is caused in the above manner to turn in a closing direction ina closing operation, is imparted to the slide through the bevel gearing53 and the pinion and rack 55 and 56 on turning of the actuating shaft52 of the actuator 51 in a closing direction. In an opening operation,the slide 57 must first be shifted or slid outwardly to take up the lostmotion in the slots 65 and engage the inner side of the pin 73 by thecorresponding ends of the slots 65. Further turning of the actuatingshaft 52 in an opening direction will iirst cause the slide 57 to pullthe guide rollers 74 under the detents 77. Immediately the rollers arefree of the detents, the weight of the doors and any lading will takeover and, through the operating shaft 31, crank 59 and link 58, forcethe connecting shaft 73 outwardly until it reaches the outer end 78 ofthe slots 68, by which time the doors and 6 will have reached their openposition. Thus, while in a closing operation a positive force must beapplied through the actuator 51 for swinging the doors 5 and 6 from opento closed position, in an opening operation the actuator only serves torelease the rollers 74 from the Adetents 77, whereafter the doors arefree to swing by gravity to opening position. Accordingly, even with theillustrated manual actuator, the doors 5 and 6 can be opened in aminimum of time with a minimum of effort on the part of the operatorand, by opening almost the entire bottom of the car, reduce to a minimumthe time required for unloading. Also, as there is no significantturning of the crank 59 during movement of the rollers out of closedposition clear of the detents 77 and lading is present only duringunloading, the only considerable weight opposing operation of the doorsby the operating mechanism 30, including the actuator 51, is that of thedoors and that weight is contended with only in a closing operation.

From the above detailed description it will be apparent that there hasbeen provided an improved door assembly for railway hopper cars which,by combining quick opening with maximum opening of the bottom of thecar, reduces to a minimum the time required for unloading. It should beunderstood that the described and disclosed embodiment is merelyexemplary of the invention and that all modifications are intended to beincluded that do not depart from the spirit of the invention and theappended claims.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. A door assembly for a railway hopper car comprising a plurality ofdischarge openings in a bottom of said car and each extendinguninterruptedly from a center sill to one of the side sills of said car,and a pair of oppositely opening inner and outer doors hingedlongitudinally and swingable laterally of said car for opening andclosing each of said openings, said inner and outer doors of each pairbeing suspended from and hinged beneath respectively said center silland one of said side sills.

2. A hopper door assembly according to claim 1, wherein the inner doorof each opening is hinged to a bottom ange of the center sill on a sidethereof adjoining the opening.

3. A door assembly according to claim 1, wherein each of the inner andouter doors swings downwardly in opening to a `substantially verticalopen position, and the inner and outer doors of each pair in said openposition substantially fully open the related discharge opening.

4. A door assembly according to claim 3s wherein the outer door of eachpair in open position slopes inwardly suciently to direct anydischarging lading laterally inside of underlying ties.

5. A hopper door assembly according to claim 3, wherein free endportions of the inner and outer doors of each pair are each braced by areinforcing member extending laterally `along an underside thereof, andsaid reinforcing members interlock on closing of the doors forstrengthening thereof over a joint therebetween.

6. A hopper door assembly according to claim 5, wherein the interlockingmembers interlock along a joint offset longitudinally of the doors fromthe door joint for preventing escape of lading between the doors in theclosed position thereof.

7. A door assembly according to claim 1, including at least a pair oflaterally aligned discharge openings at opposite sides of the centersill, and operat-ing means for opening and closing the doors of saidpair in unison.

8. A door assembly according to claim 7, wherein the operating meansincludes an operating shaft common at least to the doors of a pair oflaterally aligned discharge OpeIllI'lgS.

9. A hopper door assembly according to claim 8, wherein the inner doorsof the laterally aligned pair of openings are drivably connected to thecommon operating shaft separately from the outer doors thereof.

10. A hopper door assembly according to claim 9, wherein the drivingconnection between the operating shaft and the inner doors includestoggle means link-andcrank connected to the operating shaft and havingarms extending oppositely laterally of the car and each connected to oneof the inner doors.

11. A hopper door `assembly according to claim 9, wherein the drivingconnection between the outer doors and the operating shaft includesdouble ended crank means xed against rotation to the shaft, and linkmeans each connecting an end of the crank means to one of the outerdoors.

12. A door assembly according to claim 11, -wherein the link means areadjustable in length for adjusting the tit between the doors of eachoutlet in the closed position thereof.

13. A hopper door assembly according to claim 12, wherein the crankmeans includes a pair of double ended cranks spaced axially of theoperating shaft and substantially laterally aligned with opposite sidesof the outer doors, and the link means includes for each door a pair ofindividually adjustable links each connecting a side thereof to an endof an aligned crank.

14. A hopper door assembly according to claim 13, wherein the drivingconnection between the inner doors and the operating shaft includes acrank iixed to the operating shaft substantially midway between theouter door cranks, a toggle having oppositely extending arms eachconnected to and substantially centered laterally on one of the innerdoors, and a link connecting said toggle to said crank.

15. A hopper door assembly according to claim 14,

wherein the operating means includes actuating means acting through saidoperating shaft for positively driving the doors to closed position,said actuating means including means for locking the doors in closedposition and lost motion means operative on unlocking thereof forenabling the doors to swing by gravity to open position withoutrestraint by said actuating means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 693,132 2/1902 Heiden 10S-250734,977 7/ 1903 Simonton 10S-249 776,149 1 l/ 1904 Simonton 10S-424 X1,067,863 7/1913 Campbell 10S-251 1,184,036 5/1916 Seaberg 105-2511,209,809 12/ 1916 Campbell 10S-251 1,908,096 5/1933 Yost 10S-2503,137,247 6/1964 Hamilton et al. 10S-255 X ARTHUR L. LAPOINT, PrimaryExaminer H. BELTRAN, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.

